University Fired Worker For Being Gay, Suit Claims

A former security guard filed an employment-discrimination lawsuit Friday against Palm Beach Atlantic University, saying the Christian university fired him because he is gay.

Robert Oskey says in court papers that he did well during the more than two years he worked for the West Palm Beach university, earning a promotion from part time to full time and building a record free of disciplinary write ups.

Then, court documents say, someone gave his boss a copy of a personal ad -- which Oskey says he never wrote -- indicating Oskey was looking for a relationship with a man.

Oskey is gay, but he denied it when his boss threatened to fire him if he was, according to the complaint Oskey filed in a state court in Palm Beach County.

But the supervisor soon confronted him with a nine-month-old police report indicating Oskey had been mugged near a gay bar, Oskey's complaint alleges.

The university suspended him immediately, fired him within weeks and upheld the firing without explanation when he appealed it, the complaint says.

University spokeswoman Becky Peeling declined to comment, pointing to the ongoing lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages.

According to Palm Beach County Equal Opportunity Office documents, the university has said Oskey was fired for "computer misconduct and lack of candor with supervisors, unrelated to his sexual orientation."

But Oskey's complaint maintains those were merely pretexts, and county equal-opportunity director Harry L. Lamb Jr. recently found "reasonable grounds to believe [Oskey's] allegation that he was discharged on the basis of his sexual orientation."